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Book II About different applications of earths (painting, medical) and their occurrences

Book II About different applications of earths (painting, medical) and their occurrences Page of 251 Book III about halite and nitrium, alum and acrid juices and related minerals, sulphur, bitumen, realgar, and orpiment; the fourth, chrysocolla, aerugo, caeruleum, ferrugo Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
BOOK II
35
had not appealed to them more.12 Sil is the color of clay and is com­monly used by painters instead of orpiment, according to Theophrastus, who writes that there is no difference in their colors. Just as sil and orpiment have similar colors, the tawny earth that has no name is similar in color to realgar although they differ widely in other prop­erties. Ocherous earths occur abundantly not only in mines but also in distinctive veins. A variety from Athens is the best. The Athenian deposits, related to silver mines, were not worked in the time of Vitru-vius because of the scarcity of slaves. Today this earth comes from a portion of Hungary formerly called Dacia; Raetia; the silver mines of Germany; and from Hildesheim, between that city and a cave named for dwarfs, where it occurs in crusts. It is found between Alfeld and Em-becca where it often has the appearance of sea shells. This earth has the appearance of pipes in a deposit in Hildesheim on the road between Hasda and Sarsteda. The painters of Hanover burn the ocher found in limestone quarries and use this instead of red ocher. Red ocher is made from purple ocher by first burning it and then when it is red hot quenching it with vinegar. Ocher has an acrid taste. It is used in medicine to cure tumors, mumps, and to retard swellings. Mixed with wax it fills hollows in the flesh and retards stiffening of the joints.
12 Pliny uses the name sil for yellow ocher.
Book II About different applications of earths (painting, medical) and their occurrences Page of 251 Book III about halite and nitrium, alum and acrid juices and related minerals, sulphur, bitumen, realgar, and orpiment; the fourth, chrysocolla, aerugo, caeruleum, ferrugo
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